This past Sunday, Eminem stunned fans with his two Super Bowl XLV advertisement appearances for Brisk Iced Tea and Chrysler automobiles. Now, Eminem’s lawyer Paul Rosenberg – who has been featured an a number of Em’s albums jokingly chiding the rapper for his controversial music – opened up to Billboard magazine about the rapper’s involvement in the latter of the two commercials.
“It’s just been amazing,” Rosenberg said. “Immediately…the e-mails and texts started pouring in, Facebook started reacting, everyone all over Twitter was talking about it. We thought people were going to be pleased, but I don’t know if we thought it was going to be as ecstatic of a reaction as it’s been. It’s really been pretty electric. I haven’t seen something like this in quite some time.”
The commercial, which features Em driving through his hometown’s streets as his 2002 Academy Award-winning single “Lose Yourself” plays in the background, was met with critical acclaim for its inspirational message about Detroit’s economic woes. Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Business has since given the ad an A rating, while NFL Fanhouse ranked it as the second best ad of the evening. Rosenberg says that the local response to the ad has been equally enthusiastic.
“He’s always sort of cautious in his own judgment about things he’s involved in or creates until they’re really introduced to the world and he’s got a chance to see how [people] react to them,” Rosenberg added. “He’s very pleased with the reaction…everyone from friends and family, to people I know that are part of the Detroit diaspora…were sending me e-mails, calling me: ‘I got goosebumps.’ ‘I shed a tear.’ ‘You guys don’t know what you’ve done.'”
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Rosenberg also explained the relevance of the commercial’s content to Eminem’s recent musical comeback. He says that the rapper’s return to music following years of drug addiction parallels the American auto industry’s current trials and tribulations and Detroit’s multitude of socioeconomic ills. While Eminems Recovery album chronicled his return to sobriety, Chrysler similarly hopes to overcome a long period of slumping sales that was capped off with the automaker taking part of a multi-billion dollar economic bailout. Em and Rosenberg decided the point would be embraced better if Eminem actually appeared in the spot and drove a Chrysler 200.
Eminem isn’t the only party to reap the benefits of the advertisement. PR Newswire reported that the commercial prompted a 213% increase in traffic for the automobile company on Kbb.com, with 1013% traffic increase for the Chrysler 200 car model.
